I know the Iraqi people want U.S. troops out. How do the Afghani people feel?

[cali]

And does it matter if they want us to stay? Ahmed Rashid has written at length about the U.S. failure to rebuild Afghanistan- which he does think is possible. I know most here want to just get our troops out of Afghanistan, but there's really no way to rebuild that country without troops there. I'm against trying to "kill all the terrorists", but even with our financial problems, I'm for building infrastructure, providing basic healthcare and food. And I think it needs to be a global effort.

Yes, there are other countries in dire need, but we attacked Afghanistan and we have, I believe, a responsibility to the people of that country.

[leftstreet]

1. They will greet us with flowers n/t

[cali]

2. mindless response. n/t

[leftstreet]

4. I was wrong. It should have been "flowers and sweets." n/t

[LakeSamish706]

3. I don't disagree with you and I would say the US owes Iraq the same concessions.....

There country was destroyed by nim nuts as well, and it is up to the American's to finance the rebuilding....

Next problem, where is all of this money going to come from?

[Chulanowa]

5. Which Afghans?

There is no "national unity" in Afghanistan. Afghans have always referred to themselves by their tribe, rather than by the appellate "Afghans."

As long as we are there, there will be those who want us there. And as long as we are there, there will be others very eager to kill us. Afghanistan is a bad place to be. If we continue trying for warfare there, we will die. The British got their asses torn off, the Russians suffered horrible losses, and our fate will be no better. As much as I love president Obama, his plan to expand the war in Afghanistan draws very discomforting parallels to Johnson's expansion of Vietnam.

Our best hope is to work with the Afghans - region by region, tribe by tribe. Become a common ally to as many of the factions as we can, and try to bring them together for a truly multilateral government, rather than picking the leader of our terror organization and handing him a crown.

[nsd]

6. Afghanistan is not the same as Iraq.

The Afghan war really was about 9/11. Our first priority there is to prevent the resurgence of the Taliban and AQ's regaining a foothold. That's why we're staying.

Afghanistan was pretty messed up before we got there -- and we had a legitimate reason for going. I don't think we have the same responsibility there as in Iraq.

[pinto]

7. (aside) Fareed Zakaria, on CNN, had a great show on Afghanistan issues today.

His is one of the brightest talk show things on TV, imo. Not the usual talking heads you see make the rounds, and a real breadth of opinion.

Consensus seemed to be it's a fragmented country, no political parties, no real national structure, a military that is seen as an extension of US/NATO, and a 'leader' that can barely leave his city.

They noted the need for infrastructure support, and working to include disparate elements of the country in some sort of national structure in place of the present void. And all agreed it was a tough tightrope for the West to travel alone.

[Clio the Leo]

8. They NEED to be worried about getting AL QAEDA out and...

... then they wont have to worry about us.

[Peacetrain]

9. Afghanistan is the poster child for UN intervention

The taliban is not a government entity per se, but a group of Islamic KKK types (as in the KKK use Christian symbols to spread the opposite of Christian beliefs)who actually took over a government and proceeded to terrorize and brutalize one group (the women) to keep power out of fear.

They are doing it now in the hill towns of Pakistan. You go along to live another day. They just do not shoot you if they don't like you, they torture you and and your family members to boot.

The best we can do is break the lock they have on the tribes, and get Islamic clerics in to work with the tribal men, ..but we definitely need an outside power source in there because the taliban cockroaches are growing again.

Little girls getting acid thrown in their faces because they are walking to school.. these people cannot be allowed to take over a country again